Fastening device



April 4, 1967 R. J. REEVES FASTENING DEVICE Filed March 2, .1965

U1 Z24 al al-1M Zia Ma United States Patent 3,311,958 FASTENING DEVICERobert J. Reeves, Attlehoro, Mass., assignor to Reeves Company, Inc.,Attleboro, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Mar. 2, 1965, Ser.No. 436,464 2 Claims. (Cl. 24-155) This invention relates to devices forfastening externally worn objects on clothing, of the type employing apointed shaft and a gripper that passes over the shaft, and provides animproved construction for fastening such objects to articles of clothingof a variety of thicknesses.

A primary object of the invention is to provide a pointed shaft-grippertype construction as just described, in which the gripper, wheninstalled, covers the point on the shaft, and at the same time isadjustable to a plurality of spaced locked positions on the shaft, toallow for variation in clothing thickness. Other objects are to allowselective adjustment of the gripper to a desired one of its lockedpositions, guided solely by tactile sensation, even when more than asingle shaft is used on a given object; to provide a shaft that caneasily pass through clothing repeatedly without harming the fabric; andto provide such a fastening device that is durable, reliable, andinexpensive to produce.

Generally speaking, the invention features a pointed shaft rigidlyprojecting from the rear surface of the object to be fastened, thisshaft having a plurality of spaced circumferential grooves extendingfully around the shaft, and a standard gripper having resiliently spacedapart gripping edges adapted to snap into each of said grooves, and anenclosure with a guard spaced above said gripping edges; the grooveclosest to the rear surface of the object being spaced from the point ofthe shaft a distance less than the distance between the gripping edgesand the guard.

Other objects, advantages, and features will appear from the followingdescription of a preferred embodiment of the invention, taken togetherwith the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a name plate bearing two fastening devicesaccording to the invention, with the gripper removed from the lowershaft;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the clutch portion of a gripper;

FIG. 3 is a section through 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a partial view in section similar to FIG. 3, showing thegripper with its gripping edges flexed apart out of the groove of theshaft.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is shown in FIG.1 a name plate 10, with pointed shafts 12 and 12a rigidly attached torear surface 16 of the plate and extending outwardly therefrom. Shafts12 and 12a are identical and have, respectively, circumferential grooves18, 20, 22 and 18a, 20a, 220, each groove extending fully around itsshaft. Considering shaft 12 as typical, its grooves are spaced atincreasing distances from plate surface 16, to allow for the inclusionof clothing fabrics of differing thicknesses between surface 16 and thegrippers 30.

As best shown in FIG. 4, each groove has an opposing pair of sidewalls,24, 25, which slope downwardly toward each other, so that the shaft canbe easily and repeatedly inserted into clothing fabric without thefabric being caught in a groove and therefore harmed. In the embodimentshown, the shaft 12 has a diameter at points adjacent the grooves ofapproximately 0.050 inch, a diameter at the deepest part of the groovesof approximately 0.02 inch, and a length of approximately inch. Thegrooves are spaced respectively approximately inch, inch, and inch fromthe shaft point 26.

3 ,3 I 1,958 Patented Apr. 4, 1967 Grippers 30 are of a standard typeheretofore employed in fastening devices of constructions other thanthat of the invention, and comprise broadly a clutch portion 32 (FIG. 2)and an enclosure portion 34 partially surrounding the clutch portion.

Clutch portion 32 includes a pair of opposed resilient members 36, 38that provide, respectively, gripping edges 40 and 42. Edges 40 and 42are generally semicircular in shape and, when members 36 and 38 areunflexed, they together define a generally circular opening 44. In thisunflexed position the edges 40 and 42 can be considered as spaced aparta distance equal to the diameter of the opening 44, which distance is nogreater, and preferably less, than the diameter of the shaft at thedeepest part of the grooves, so that the gripper will lock tightly intothe grooves. By manually flexing elements 36 and 38 toward each other,the spacing between edges 40 and 42 can be increased to a distancegreater than the diameter of shaft 12 at points adjacent the grooves,enabling the gripper to be moved freely up or down the shaft.

Enclosure portion 34 includes a base 46 and a guard 48. Base 46 liesjust below the plane of edges 40 and 42, and has a circular aperture 50lined up with opening 42. Aperture 50 is larger than the thickest partof shaft 12, enabling the free passage of the shaft. Guard 48 is saddleshaped and located directly above opening 42.

In use, after shafts 12 and 12a are passed through the clothing fabric,the individual grippers 30 are separately installed by passing the shaftinto aperture 50 and forcing the gripper toward plate surface 16 untilthe shaft enters the space between edges 40 and 42, thereby forcingthose edges apart. As the shaft continues to slide between the grippingedges, the snap of the edges into the first groove (22, or 22a) will befelt with the fingers. If the fabric is thin, it may be desirable toslide the gripper to the next groove (20, 2011), or even to theinnermost groove (18, 18a). In any case, the tactile sense will enablethe precise adjustment of both grippers, since they are installedindividually. The sliding of the grippers along the shaft may be easedby partial flexing of members 36, 38, without destroying the ability tosense the snaps into the grooves. To remove the grippers, the members36, 38 may be manually flex-ed together until the gripping edges areaway from the shaft (FIG. 4), and withdrawn.

Guard 48 protects the wearer from the point 26 The spacing between theinnermost groove (18, 18a) and the point 26 is less than the distancebetween gripping edges 40, 42 and the surface of the guard directlyabove those edges.

Gripping security is enhanced by the fact that the grooves extend fullyaround the shaft, .resulting in gripping edge-to-shaft contact around alarge portion of the shafts circumference.

Other embodiments within the following claims will occur to thoseskilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

1. A construction for fastening an object to an article of clothing,comprising:

at least one shaft rigidly attached to and projecting away from the rearsurface of said object, said shaft having a pointed end so that saidshaft may be inserted through clothing without damage thereto, saidshaft having a plurality of circumferential grooves spaced from eachother and extending fully around said shaft with side walls that slopedownwardly toward each other so that the side walls may pass freelyinwardly and outwardly through the clothing without damage thereto,whereby the diameter of said shaft at said grooves is smaller than q K3the diameter of said shaft at points adjacent said grooves, and agripper corresponding to each said shaft,

comprising:

a clutch portion having a pair of resilient members providing opposinggripping edges, said gripping edges being spaced apart when saidresilient members are unflexed a distance no greater than the diameterof said shaft at said grooves, said resilient members adapted to beflexed repeatedly by manual pressure to increase the spacing betweensaid gripping edges to a distance greater than the diameter of saidshaft at said points adjacent said grooves,

and an enclosure portion having a guard disposed a predetermineddistance above said gripping edges,

said grooves being located along said shaft in such a manner that thegroove closest to said rear surface of said object is spaced from thepoint of said shaft a distance less than said predetermined distance, sothat regardless of the location of the gripper relative to the shaft,the pointed end of the shaft will always be spaced from the guard toprevent damage to the pointed end of the shaft, said gripper beingmanually removably installed on its shaft with its gripping edges in aselected one of said grooves by 4 counting the number of snaps sensed bythe installing hand as the gripping edges snap into each groove abovesaid selected one.

2. The construction of claim 1 wherein said object 5 is elongated, thereare two said shafts and a separate gripper corresponding to each shaft.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,412,481 4/1922Mendler -2 24-217 2,347,863 5/1944 Woodward 24216 2,372,922 4/ 1945Winters 242 17 2,730,824 1/1956 Cohen 401.5 2,850,818 9/1958 Brownstein24110 X 3,088,295 5/1963 Haines 24108 X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,023,16412/1952 France.

94,992 6/ 1922 Switzerland.

62,614 2/1955 France.

(1st addition of 988,147)

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

25 DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Examiner.

1. A CONSTRUCTION FOR FASTENING AN OBJECT TO AN ARTICLE OF CLOTHING,COMPRISING: AT LEAST ONE SHAFT RIGIDLY ATTACHED TO AND PROJECTING AWAYFROM THE REAR SURFACE OF SAID OBJECT, SAID SHAFT HAVING A POINTED END SOTHAT SAID SHAFT MAY BE INSERTED THROUGH CLOTHING WITHOUT DAMAGE THERETO,SAID SHAFT HAVING A PLURALITY OF CIRCUMFERENTIAL GROOVES SPACED FROMEACH OTHER AND EXTENDING FULLY AROUND SAID SHAFT WITH SIDE WALLS THATSLOPE DOWNWARDLY TOWARD EACH OTHER SO THAT THE SIDE WALLS MAY PASSFREELY INWARDLY AND OUTWARDLY THROUGH THE CLOTHING WITHOUT DAMAGETHERETO, WHEREBY THE DIAMETER OF SAID SHAFT AT SAID GROOVES IS SMALLERTHAN THE DIAMETER OF SAID SHAFT AT POINTS ADJACENT SAID GROOVES, AND AGRIPPER CORRESPONDING TO EACH SAID SHAFT, COMPRISING: A CLUTCH PORTIONHAVING A PAIR OF RESILIENT MEMBERS PROVIDING OPPOSING GRIPPING EDGES,SAID GRIPPING EDGES BEING SPACED APART WHEN SAID RESILIENT MEMBERS AREUNFLEXED A DISTANCE NO GREATER THAN THE DIAMETER OF SAID SHAFT AT SAIDGROOVES, SAID RESILIENT MEMBERS ADAPTED TO BE FLEXED REPEATEDLY BYMANUAL PRESSURE TO INCREASE THE SPACING BETWEEN SAID GRIPPING EDGES TO ADISTANCE GREATER THAN THE DIAMETER OF SAID SHAFT AT SAID POINTS ADJACENTSAID GROOVES, AND AN ENCLOSURE PORTION HAVING A GUARD DISPOSED APREDETERMINED DISTANCE ABOVE SAID GRIPPING EDGES, SAID GROOVES BEINGLOCATED ALONG SAID SHAFT IN SUCH A MANNER THAT THE GROOVE CLOSEST TOSAID REAR SURFACE OF SAID OBJECT IS SPACED FROM THE POINT OF SAID SHAFTA DISTANCE LESS THAN SAID PREDETERMINED DISTANCE, SO THAT REGARDLESS OFTHE LOCATION OF THE GRIPPER RELATIVE TO THE SHAFT, THE POINTED END OFTHE SHAFT WILL ALWAYS BE SPACED FROM THE GUARD TO PREVENT DAMAGE TO THEPOINTED END OF THE SHAFT, SAID GRIPPER BEING MANUALLY REMOVABLYINSTALLED ON ITS SHAFT WITH ITS GRIPPING EDGES IN A SELECTED ONE OF SAIDGROOVES BY COUNTING THE NUMBER OF SNAPS SENSED BY THE INSTALLING HAND ASTHE GRIPPING EDGES SNAP INTO EACH GROOVE ABOVE SAID SELECTED ONE.